9.10am: Good morning and welcome to our daily sports news blog. Throughout the day we will update this page with news, links, and what's expected to happen in the hours ahead. Time permitting, we'll try to wade in below the line, answering your questions and comments. We'll have an update on how we expect the news to develop after our morning meeting shortly.

In the meantime Roger Federer has just beaten Nikolay Davydenko at the Australian Open, coming from a set down to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5 and advance to the semi-finals. Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are up next on Rod Laver, in a repeat of the 2008 final. Should be an entertaining match.

Earlier, Serena Williams produced quite some comeback against Victoria Azarenka, recovering from a set and 4-0 down to see off the seventh seed. The defending champion will now face Li Na, who beat Venus in three sets to prevent an all-Williams semi-final. It's a great achievement for Li to reach the last four - and for Chinese tennis - with Zheng Jie through as well. But surely everyone - well, bar the whole of China - is now hoping for a Serena v Henin final. Kim Clijsters beat Serena en route to claiming the US Open title, can Henin do the same on her comeback? KM

10am: We've just had the morning meeting, so here's what's what.

• Winding up orders, administration, points deductions, court appearances and late wage payments. We'll keep you posted on the latest financial travails of teams such as Portsmouth, Notts County, Crystal Palace and whoever else comes a cropper fiscally before sundown.

• Don't worry, there's actual football too: Paul Doyle will be typing like a dervish in his minute-by-minute report on tonight's eagerly-awaited Carling Cup semi-final second leg between Manchester United and Manchester City.

• Paolo Bandini's fingers will be skittering across the keyboard as he brings you a minute-by-minute report of Everton and Sunderland's Premier League encounter, along with updates from Chelsea v Birmingham and Aston Villa v Arsenal and Blackburn v Wigan Athletic.

• We'll know by 6pm how Rio Ferdinand is going to respond to the FA charges levelled at him yesterday for allegedly playing fast and loose with his elbow in Manchester United's Premier League match against Hull City last weekend. If he admits to the charge he'll probably get a three-match ban that would rule him out of tonight's match against City. If he contests the charge and is found guilty, a four-match ban is the more likely outcome.

• Expect to see staggeringly unimaginative photos of six burly men posing in different coloured international rugby shirts featuring across assorted sports media outlets today and tomorrow as the captains of the Six Nations side assemble today for the annual get-together that marks the launch of the tournament.

• There's a Fifa World Cup press conference today and, assuming he talks at it, we'll let you know which of his feet Sepp Blatter inserts in his mouth first.

11.12am: One thing we forgot to mention earlier was the news that Cricket South Africa has sacked the country's entire selection panel, a day after head coach Mickey Arthur resigned and just days before the team leave for their tour to India. Do South Africa have any chance against the Indians considering their current state of disarray?

12.05pm: Cristiano Ronaldo has announced that he thinks the two-match ban he shipped for getting sent off against Malaga is excessive and is confident the La Liga club's appeal will succeed. Ronaldo scored both goals in the 2-0 win at the Bernabeu but was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute after catching Patrick Mtiliga with a flailing arm, breaking the defender's nose. "I wasn't impressed, of course," he told the Spanish daily AS. "I sincerely believe the punishment is excessive. I am confident in the appeal the club is going to lodge and that the punishment will be reduced."

12.45pm: This just in: Notts County have been given 28 days to pay their creditors, while Ospreys and Lee Byrne have been charged with misconduct for briefly fielding 16 men against Leicester in the Heineken Cup last weekend. We'll have have the nitty-gritty of both stories up on the site shortly. [BG]

2.25pm: Re: skipperD asking below the line about the latest condition of the Paraguay striker Salvador Cabañas. He's critical, but stable and reportedly improving. His neurosurgeon, Carlos Codas, told reporters in Mexico City:

"It's a miracle that Salvador is still alive after what happened. The bullet in his head was within millimetres of touching vital areas. It's important that his brain stays in its current condition, so we have to keep monitoring his situation very closely. It could have a negative impact if we try to remove the bullet. Our primary objective is to save his life. Then we will look at the options to keep all body functions working properly. We will have to wait and see what we can do in the upcoming days."

JD

2.45pm: More on the nail-biting will-he won't-he does-anyone-actually-care Rio Ferdinand suspension saga: the Manchester United centre-half is denying the charge of violent conduct and therefore risking getting a four-match ban when it's heard tomorrow. If he'd admitted the charge before 6pm today, he'd almost certainly have got a three-match ban which would have ruled him out of tonight's Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Manchester City. [BG]

3.35pm: According to research in Germany, football referees are more likely to penalise taller players than shorter ones. AP report:

Niels van Quaquebeke and Steffen Giessner, German scientists at Erasmus University's Rotterdam School of Management, have reached the conclusion after studying 123,844 fouls from seven Champions League and German Bundesliga campaigns along with the last three World Cups.

To support their initial finding they carried out experiments by showing a group of football fans drawings of two players involved in a tackle one taller than the other, they said Wednesday. In both scenarios, the fans said taller players were more likely to have committed a foul than shorter players.

4.15pm: A brief Salvador Cabañas update: doctors treating him in Mexico City say he his showing symptoms of swelling around the brain. Again, AP report that:

Dr Enrique Martinez says that Cabañas remained in critical but stable condition two days after the shooting. He says Cabañas will remain under sedation despite an attempt late Tuesday to lower the dosage. Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Angel Mancera identified a main suspect on Tuesday Jose J. Balderas Garza from surveillance videos. Police have not reported detaining him.